Lightning Is the Only Way

Gravis went to the Mountain of Pride and stood before the Empress. "I'm ready to go," he said.

The Empress nodded. Then, she turned to the Grand Elder, who stood right beside her. "I'll leave everything up to you," she said.

The Grand Elder sighed. "I knew that this time would come, but I'm still not looking forward to it. This will be a pain."

"This was our deal," the Empress said coldly.

The Grand Elder sighed again. "I know, and I will keep my word. You've helped me for centuries. I guess now it's my time to help you."

Gravis thought that the Grand Elder was making a big deal out of nothing. He only had to watch over the Empire for a little more than 50 years.

"Let's go," the Empress said as she turned to Gravis.

Then, for the first time, the Empress rose from her throne. Gravis had never seen the Empress leave her throne before. It even felt weird for Gravis to see her floating.

Gravis also started floating, and then they flew towards the north. The Empress' tail was over ten meters long, and it gracefully moved around in the air behind her. Even while flying, she had an aura of royalty to her.

"Empress, why did the Grand Elder react like this? It's only a little more than 50 years," he said.

"I'm not your Empress anymore," she said.

Gravis was taken aback. "What? Why?" he asked.

"Styr and I have known each other ever since we were Kings and our personalities were very compatible," the Empress said as she started a long explanation.

'Styr? That's probably the Grand Elder's name,' Gravis thought, but he didn't interrupt the Empress' explanation.

"We both had supreme power as a goal, and we promised each other that the first one of us that manages to become an Emperor will create an Empire. The other one will then become the Grand Elder of said Empire."

"The Emperor would take over most of the administrative tasks and lead the Empire while the Grand Elder would mainly concentrate on their own power. Yet, as soon as one of us manages to understand a level three Law, we would switch until the other one also manages to comprehend a level three Law or dies in battle," the Empress explained.

"And you were the first one that managed to become an Emperor?" Gravis asked.

Azure nodded. "I could have increased my Realm slower than him, but I was thinking more about the long term. I've expected that he would understand a level three Law faster than me. Even back then, he had known more Laws than me. I simply had more powerful Laws at my disposal. That's why I thought that it would be better if I became the Emperor."

"Additionally, having the power to ascend but not being able to would feel worse than being an Emperor and not having the means to ascend. Because of all these reasons, I voluntarily became the Empress," Azure said.

But then, she frowned. "Yet, it seems like I've been scammed," she grumbled.

For the first time, Azure was openly showing frustration without hiding it behind a mask of royalty. Yet, Gravis liked it more when Azure acted more "human".

"What do you mean with scammed?" Gravis asked.

Azure huffed as she threw a side-eye at Gravis. "I'm talking about you," she said with annoyance.

"Me?" Gravis asked with widely opened eyes.

"Yes," Azure said. "Your unique perspective on Laws has allowed both of us to profit immensely. There is a high chance that I will learn enough about the Laws in the Ultimate Law Comprehension Area to condense my first level three Law after my next fight."

"I've been the Empress for over a millennium, but Styr will probably only be the Emperor of the Icy Pride Empire for not even a century. It feels like I've been scammed," she grumbled.

Gravis chuckled a bit. "So, I shouldn't have appeared?" he asked.

Azure huffed again. "You know what I mean," she said.

Suddenly, she turned around and stretched her arms and tail in a display of relaxation. Gravis was not used to her acting like this.

"But hey, it feels good to finally return properly to the path of power," she said with a relaxed voice. "This entire burden of being an Empress is finally gone. Now, I can relax and fully concentrate on myself. Well, except for some minor tasks I still have to do."

"You can't imagine how stressful it was to always keep up this royal mask," she said in exasperation. "Always acting this coldly and uptight all the time. It's way too boring. You think I wanted to stay on this throne for such a long time?"

Gravis couldn't even answer as Azure kept venting her frustrations on him.

"Day in and day out, I need to check up on the reports regarding the Offspring Areas. Then, I need to check the status of our elite force. Then, I need to inform every Elder about any new developments. Then, I need to plan our future strategy. Then, all these other beasts from other Empires want to meet me."

"Then there are all these annoying small-fry Emperors that want to mate with me, but I can't just directly tell them to leave since that would sour our relationship. Then, some annoying but promising young beast comes and thinks they're hot stuff."

"What would I have given for some random Emperor to challenge me for my throne. That would have been a welcome change. Yet, every level two Emperor was only interested in the Grand Elder position, and Styr just ran over them."

"Day in and day out, I had to stay at the Empire to be ready for any new developments. Then, there was this whole debacle with the spies that annoyed me to no end. Then, some Elder wants more time in the Law Comprehension Area, and I have to tell them that they haven't done enough."

"At least, every 50 years, I get some entertainment with this useless mate competition. Yeah, sure, I can comprehend a lot about Life, but I mainly created this for entertainment. There are so few fights going on around me. I've been so bored that I've even taken a look at everything in my surroundings. I even know the number of leaves on the trees."

"At the beginning, I built the Mountain of Pride to occupy myself with understanding the Law of Pride, but that didn't hold for more than 200 years. What then? I've already comprehended basically everything in my Empire that I can comprehend."

Azure grumbled as she was talking herself into a frustrated rage. Meanwhile, Gravis only watched her with shocked eyes. Azure was really going off, and he was not used to this at all. Was he supposed to say something? Was he supposed to agree with her? Should he just let her vent?

"Then, as we got more beasts, I needed to restructure the Empire's living space and solve disputes about territories. Honestly, I should've just allowed everyone to kill each other, but that wouldn't have made the Empire as stable. Do you know how annoying it is when some new…"

Azure continued venting, and Gravis only listened. He was still taken aback by her frustrated and open conduct. This was so weird to him!

They traveled for several hours in which Azure didn't stop talking even once. Emperors didn't need to breathe, and that surely was an advantage in talking.

By the end of it, Gravis only stared absentmindedly into space.

This was more stressful than his 23 years of pain.